Post & Courier mentions Richland 2

Take a good look at this Post & Courier article about sweetheart deals cooked up in Richland One School District. See the reference to Richland Two at the end of the article.

Then think about the "deal" put in place in January 2019, when the Richland Two School Board approved a 10-page Resolution foisted on them by Administration.

Most of it was bond document boilerplate. Did every one of the Richland Two board members wade through every line in that Resolution? And did they understand what they were approving?

Everything was kosher until you got to the last two sentences in Section 21 on Page 9.

That's where the Board jumped off the coachbox and tossed the reins to the superintendent, giving him authority to direct Burr Forman to associate co-counsel for the purposes of diversity and to have control over bond issues. Control that properly belongs in the hands of the entire Board.

In other words, hire Tameika Isaac Devine, a black female lawyer in a two-person firm in Columbia, whose husband just happens to be on the Richland One school board. With a small firm that lists absolutely NO bond experience on its website.

Bond work is incredibly complex. Burr Forman is competent. It has a large staff to deal with complicated issues. It has diversity. The lead attorney on the Richland 2 bond work is female. No doubt it employs many black attorneys and staff.

The Richland 2 Board should go back and scrap that authority. There is no reason to tell Burr Forman to cough up part of its fees on the superintendent's say-so.